Suicide care training offered to GPs

GPs in Wales are being urged to sign up to a training programme aimed at improving the way all health, social care and emergency services professionals support people at risk of suicide.

The programme called ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) is being piloted in Wales by Mind Cymru and involves a two-day course offering intensive training in recognising and dealing with those who have considered suicide.

Alan Briscoe, the project manager, said that GPs are a target group for the course as many do not have specific training in ‘the specialist people skills’ needed in dealing with these cases.

Latest official figures show the prevalence of suicide among young men in Wales, where it is now the highest cause of death among this group in Wales, five times higher than in England.

Wales has such a high suicide rate among young men compared to England, according to MIND, due to its rurality. This increases feelings of isolation and means there is less access to specialist services.